Bed clothing and the like



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I NVENTOR I ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,139,913 BED CLOTHING AND THELIKE Alfred Walter Bayes, Hyde, England, assignor to Ashton Brothers &Company Limited, a corporation of Great Britain Filed Jan. 17, 1961,Ser. No. 83,265 2 Claims. (Cl. 139391) This invention relates to heatinsulating textile fabrics and is particularly, but not exclusively,applicable to bed clothing, such as blankets or rugs for hospital orlike use.

One of the problems in connection with blankets or rugs used inhospitals or for the sick, very young or aged, is that woollen blanketsdeteriorate rapidly with the frequent washing necessary to remove stainsand for hygienic reasons, and will not withstand the high temperatureand conditions required for effective sterilization or removal of somestains. On the other hand, a woollen blanket when new, gives more warmthfor weight than does a similar woven structure made from cotton or otherpossible alternative textile materials which are known to be better ableto withstand severe washing treatment, for example, for the removal ofstains and sterilizing.

A comparatively recent development in woollen blankets and in protectivewearing apparel has established that an open weave cellular or net-likefabric as distinct from a looped pile fabric, when located between otherlayers for example of textile fabric of relatively closely woventexture, provides a high degree of heat insulation comparable with awoollen blanket-like fabric, by reason of the relatively isolatedpockets of air formed in the cellular or net-like structure.

The present invention is based upon the appreciation of thepossibilities of adapting a looped pile textile fabric of non-woollenyarn for heat-insulating purposes, for example, as a blanket or like bedclothing, thus putting it to a hitherto unknown use, the normal use ofsuch fabric being for its moisture-absorption and retention properties.

According to the invention, a heat insulating textile fabric such as ablanket or rug for bed clothing comprises a looped pile on a textilebase characterised in that the loops are arranged in spaced groups, eachgroup consisting of a plurality of adjacent loops, said groups beingarranged to enclose, between adjacent groups, open (nonlooped) areas,whereby when the fabric is placed against a surface, isolated insulatingpockets of air are enclosed at their sides by walls of loops, ofadjacent groups, and at their faces by the textile base of the fabricand the said surface respectively.

Preferably the looped pile is arranged on both sides of the fabric withthe non-looped spaces on one side coincident with a group of pile loopson the other.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan to a large scale of part of the central area of ablanket made in accordance with the present invention with one cornerturned back.

FIG. 2 shows diagrammatically an end portion of the blanket shown inFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a weaving diagram for one part of the blanket.

FIG. 4 is a weaving diagram for another part of the blanket.

FIG. 5 is a warpways section through 5-5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a warpways section through 6--6 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a section showing the blanket between two opposed surfaces.

As shown in FIG. 1, the rectangular areas which have groups of terryloops 10 on one side are plain on the other. Such rectangular plain(non-looped) areas 11 are effectively enclosed by the walls of thesurrounding four areas of groups of pile loops assisted at the cornersby the spready of the pile loops.

As shown in FIG. 2, the end of the blanket is formed with a transverseplain (non-looped) strip 12, a one-sided pile loop strip 13 and plain(non-looped) strip 14. A loop-surfaced hem is formed by turning over andsecuring by sewing along the line 15 through the plain (nonlooped) areas12 and 14.

The weaving diagrams and sections of FIGS. 3 to 6 show the pile warpthreads 16 and ground warp threads 17, arranged in pairs.

In order to illustrate a suitable relative stiffness for the pile andground structure or textile base, the following detailed example isgiven.

The loops may be made from the yarn of regular diameter, number 6 cottoncounts, spun with 7 /2 turns of twist per inch from American type cottonfibre. The ground structure or textile base may be made from cotton yarnnumber 12 cotton count in warp and weft. In the loom, loop yarn andground warp are arranged in pairs and one row of loops is formed forevery three shots of weft. The thread spacing is arranged to provideblocks or tufts of 16 loops together within a space 0.15 inch by 0.30inch and these tufts alternate from one side of the ground cloth to theother giving an overall thickness of 0.26 inch. This relationship ofloop yarn diameter and loop spacing provides a firm resilient pile whichremains substantially constant in depth throughout washing processes andwear. Wide plain (non-looped) margins (not shown) may be woven integralwith the patterned cloth, or attached to it after weaving, to provide atucking strip along each side of the blanket and even along the ends ofthe blanket for tucking under the mattress of a bed. These tuckingstrips being relatively smooth and thin, ease the labour of bed makingand reduce the total weight of the blanket without affecting itsheat-insulating properties.

A blanket or rug for a bed, made according to the invention may be dyedor contain coloured threads, for example, in the ground weave and may bemade up to any required size by sewing together several panels ofsmaller or towel size, preferably made to provide the required plain(non-looped) margin or folded loop-surfaced hem aforesaid, or may bewoven as a single piece in a broad loom.

It will be appreciated that a loop-pile weave consists essentially of aground or base fabric of textile mate rial which carries the pile loopson one or both faces, either overall or in pattern formation. In thepresent invention the base fabric which forms the basis of the weaveprovides a layer if pile-looped on one face or an interlayer if pilelooped on both faces of relatively closely woven fabric which preventsthe flow of air by convection currents, such as develop in cellularblankets and the dentilated surfaces when laid together or against asheet or coverlet form a layer of air pockets providing high heatinsulating property. FIG. 7 shows the blanket located between a coverlet18 and a sheet 19.

Although cotton looped-pile fabric is well known for towels and forbeach wraps or so-called sweat shirts, its use as such is primarily totake advantage of its waterabsorbent properties, and although it hasbeen suggested to use plain unpatterned looped-pile fabric as a blanketor rug, it has not been realised hitherto that an effective cellularinsulating layer at least equal to that producible by leno weaving as innormal cellular blankets and which does not consolidate or diminishappreciably in its effectiveness as a heat insulator even after manywashings, can be formed by the right choice of surface arrangement ofthe pile loops in groups and of the structural details of the fabric andits constituent yarns to enclose air pockets when associated withanother surface, such as a bed sheet.

A blanket or rug made according to the present invention can be made ofcotton or other suitable non-wool fibre, natural or man-made, selectionbeing made according to the importance of other known characteristicssuch as resistance to stain, resilience so as to keep the 3-dimensionalfullness and dentilation of its looped face, resistance to heat such asboiling or other treatment to which it may have to be subjected.

With plain (non-looped) margins, the blanket is more easily tucked infor a bed and gives less bulk at the tuck-in and the provision of plain(non-looped) margins at the ends also has similar advantages. The foldedsingle sided looped areas in the hemmed ends of the rug make a softlooped pile edge which is more suitable for the purpose of a rug than aplain (non-looped) hem would be.

I claim:

1. A heat insulating textile fabric particularly adapted for use as ablanket for bed clothing, comprising a closely woven textile base havinga looped pile on both of its faces, said loops being arranged in amultiplicity of groups, each group containing a plurality of closelyadjacent individual loops defining a firm resilient pile adapted toremain substantially constant in depth, said groups being so arranged onthe textile base that they define a dentilated surface having aplurality of relatively small non-looped areas surrounded by loopedareas, whereby when the fabric is sandwiched between two other surfacesa layer of heatinsulating air pockets is formed on each side of saidtextile base between it and the adjacent one of said other surfaces, thetextile base serving to prevent flow of air by convection from one layerof air pockets to the other.

2. A textile fabric as defined in claim 1, wherein the groups of loopson one side of the textile base are offset from those on the other, witheach group coincident with a non-looped area on the other side.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS441,423 Koch Nov. 25, 1890 509,138 Raab Nov. 21, 1893. 1,749,100 HeibergMar. 4, 1930 2,012,184 Cobb Aug. 20, 1935 2,164,848 Wallin July 4, 19392,271,281 Whitman Jan. 27, 1942 2,409,580 Mosseller Oct. 15, 19462,641,045 Meister et al. June 9, 1953 2,642,571 Brown June 23, 19532,986,173 Johnson May 30, 1961

1. A HEAT INSULATING TEXTILE FABRIC PARTICULARLY ADAPTED FOR USE AS ABLANKET FOR BED CLOTHING, COMPRISING A CLOSELY WOVEN TEXTILE BASE HAVINGA LOOPED PILE ON BOTH OF ITS FACES, SAID LOOPS BEING ARRANGED IN AMULTIPLICITY OF GROUPS, EACH GROUP CONTAINING A PLURALITY OF CLOSELYADJACENT INDIVIDUAL LOOPS DEFINING A FIRM RESILIENT PILE ADAPTED TOREMAIN SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT IN DEPTH, SAID GROUPS BEING SO ARRANGED ONTHE TEXTILE BASE THAT THEY DEFINE A DENTILATED